Wrist and pocket watches have been developed that are readable by touch alone for the visually impaired or in the dark. U.S. Pat. No. 365,032, for example, discloses a watch with revolving hands that have protuberances for reading time in the dark. The hour hand has one protuberance, and the minute hand has two protuberances to distinguish one hand from the other. Studs or raised points are disposed to be felt at the same time as the hands to provided as guides or position marks. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 360,641 teaches a watch for the blind with hands with projections that can be felt through annular slots between plates to tell the time, with hour and five-minute marks being provided by ribs on the outer surfaces of the plates.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,222,369 and 2,168,314 disclose watches that can be read by touch. These watches have analog revolving discs with hour and minute indicators or hands that revolve to tell the time and can be felt by touch. Fixed touch-readable projections are provided about the revolving indicators to designate the position of the hours about the face of the watch.
Other developments include watches that deliver time information by employing a silent vibration device, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,559,761 and 6,052,339. U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,487 teaches a wristwatch with two square-areas, each with four cursors that come out or back into the case to form codified combinations that can be interpreted by touch. Although not in the field of wristwatches, U.S. Pat. No. 2,091,146 discloses a clock with a disk that makes a complete rotation every twenty-four hours and on which raised dots are provided as Braille numerals. A window is provided to permit a finger to engage the Braille.
A timepiece is needed that can provide a sighted person a readily interpretable tactile display of the time, preferably without requiring that the user learn a complex code.